Semiautomatic signal attachment for a mailbox



Feb. 24, 1959 E. w. HICKMAN I 2,8

SEMIAUTOMATIC SIGNAL ATTACHMENT FOR A MAILBOX Filed May 16, 1958 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 24, 1959 SEMIAUTOMATIC SIGNAL ATTACHMENT i FOR A MAILBOX Emmett W. Hickman, TexarkauzuTex'.

Application May 16, 1958, Serial No. 735,749 .3 Claims. (Cl. 232-35) This invention relates to a semiautomatic signal capable of being readily applied to conventional rural mailboxes, for visually indicating to the mailbox owner when the mailbox door has been opened by the mail carrier picking up outgoing mail, to thus indicate when the mailbox should be checked by the owner for picking up any incoming mail.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mailbox signal which will materiallyreduce the number of operations required by the mail carrier in connection with the deposit of incoming mail and the picking up of outgoing mail.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a signal attachment of extremely simple construction which may be very'economically manufactured and sold and which'may be readilyapplied to conventional rural mailboxes already in use.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the following description of the drawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section showing the semiautomatic signal attachment applied to a conventional mailbox, and with certain of the parts of the attachment shown broken away;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken longitudinally of the mailbox and showing the mailbox door and an adjacent end portion of the mailbox;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 33 of Figure l; a

Figure 4 is a fragmentary edge elevational view, partly in section, of a part of the signal attachment, and

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 5--5 of Figure 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the semiautomatic mailbox signal attachment in its entirety and comprising the invention is designated generally 7 and includes a cover member 8, which is preferably formed of sheet metal, which is adapted to be associated with the lower portion of one side wall 9 of a conventional mailbox 10, and is of a length so as to extend nearly from end-to-end of said side wall. The cover member 8 is disposedexternally of the side wall 9 and includes a substantially flat portion 11, extending from end-to-end thereof. The cover member 8 has an inwardly ofltset bottom edge portion 12 which is secured by suitable fastenings 13 t thebojttomedge portion of. the side wall 9, which bottom edge portion 14 is disposed below the level of the mailbox bottom 15. The cover member 8 has a horizontal portion 16 connecting the flat portion or outer wall 1?. to theinwardly olfsetportion 12, and which portion 16 is disposed innearly the same plane as the mailbox bottom 15. The cover member 8 also includes an inturned upper edge forming a top wall 17 and inturned eudsforming end walls 13 and 19; The top wall 17 and 2 end walls 18 and 19 have edge portions abutting against the mailbox side wall 9 for spacing the outer wall 11 therefrom and so that the cover member8 combines with a part of the side wall 9 to form an elongated housing or casing 20.

An elongated strip of angular cross section, as best seen in Figure 5, has a vertical portion 21 disposed between the inwardly otfset portion 12 and the bottom mailbox wall portion 14, and secured in place by the fasten ings 13. Said angular strip has an upper outturned horizontal portion 22 which is disposed immediately above the shoulder 16 and which extends transversely between the mailbox wall 9 and the outer casing wall 11to form a bottom rail, as will hereinafter be described. Said bottom rail 22, as best seen in Figure 1, extendsfrom adjacent the front wall 18 to approximately midway of the ends of the casing 20. A spacing strip 24 is disposed between the portions 12 and 14 and extends substantially from end-to-end thereof, and has its forward portion dis posed between the portion 12 and the depending vertical flange 21, as seen in Figure 5. The upper edge of the spacing strip 24 is disposed beneath the bottom rail 22.

A strip 25, forming an upper rail, is disposed in the upper part of the casing, 20, against the mailbox wall9, and is secured immovably in the casing 20 by nut and bolt fastenings 27 which extend therethrough and through the walls 9 and 11, as seen in Figure 3. The strip 25 has a forward end which is spaced from the front wall.

18 and which includes a downwardly and forwardly inclined forward edge 28. The strip 25 has a stubstantially straight bottom edge 29,which is disposed substantially parallel to the bottom rail 22, and which merges with the forward edge 28 to form a rounded point 30.

The top wall 17 has an elongated slot 31 located adjacent the front wall It; and above the forward edge 28, and which extends forwardly to beyond the rounded point 30. A flag 32 has a staff 33 formed of fiat stock, the lower end of which extendsloosely through the slot 31 into the casing 20. The staff 33, near its lower end, is provided with a longitudinally elongated slot '34, which loosely engages a pivot pin 35 which is supported by the walls 9 and 11 and extends across the casing 20, forwardly of and adjacent the point 30, and beneath the forward portion of the slot 31.

A slide 36, comprising an elongated substantially rigid bar or strip, is slidably disposed in the casing 20 and includes a bottom front portion 37 which is. disposed below the level of the remainder of the. slide 36 and.

which has a substantially flat bottom edge 38 resting on and slidably engaging the bottom rail 22. The slide 36 has a substantially straight top edge 39 which bears against and slidably engages the bottom edge 29 of the strip 25,

forming the top rail. The slide 36 has a rounded point 40 at its forward end which is disposed adjacent the level of its top edge 39 and forwardly of the forward end of end 3% of the strip 25 so as to overlie the slotted lower.

end of the fiagstaff 33, for maintaining said fiagstaff' coplanar with thestrip 25 and slide 36.

The slide 36 has a rear extension 42 at its upper end; the upper edge of which forms a continuation of the top edge 39. Said rear extension42 projects slidably through an opening 43 in the rear-wall 19. A strap member 44 is secured to the bottom portion 37 and has a part dis= posed beyond the rear end thereof to which is attached an eye fastening 45. A spiral tension spring 46 has one end secured to the eye fastening 45' and an opposite end secured to an eye fastening 47, which is anchored to the rear wall-19. The pull spring 46 is disposed in the bottom of thecasing 20 with a part thereof positioned beneath therear portion of the slide 36, as seen in Figures 1 and 3.

As best seen in Figure 4, corresponding ends of a pair of strap members 48 are pivotally attached to opposite sides of the forward end of the bottom portion 37 by a fastening 49, and extend forwardly therefrom. The for ward ends of the strap members 48 straddle the rear end of an elongated link member 50 and are pivotally connected thereto by a fastening 51. The forward portion of the link member 50 extends through an opening 52 in the casing front wall 18 as seen in Figure 1;

A strip 53 is secured by fastenings 54 to one side flange of a mailbox door 55, so that said strip 53 is disposed in front of the casing front wall 18. The mailbox door 55 is hingedly mounted at its bottom in a conventional manner, as seen at 56 in Figure 2. The forward end of the link member 50 is pivotally connected by a fastening 57 to the strip 53 so that when the door 55 is in a closed position, as seen in Figure 1, the part of the'link member 50 extending through the opening 52 will be spaced from the lower end of said opening. The bottom edge of the link member 50 is provided with a rearwardly facing notch 58, located nearly midway between the ends of said link member.

As seen in Figure 2, a spring clip 59 is mounted on the inner side of the lower portion of the door 55 and is secured thereto at its lower end by fastenings 60. An angular spacing member 61 is secured to the inner side of the door55 above and spaced from the spring clip 59. The spring clip 59 is adapted to releasably engage the bottom edge portions of letters, not shown, constituting outgoing mail, the upper portions of which are held away from the inner side of the door 55 by the spacing mem bers 61, so that the upper ends of the letters, or the envelopes thereof, can be conveniently grasped by the mail carrier for extracting the letters from the spring clip 59.

The owner of the mailbox 10, after applying outgoing mail in the spring clip 59 and having returned the door I 55 to its closed position of Figures 1 and 2, swings the flag 32 upwardly to its full line, operative position of Figure 1. In this position, a portion of the flagstaff 33, located above the pivot 35, will bear against the top wall 17 at the forward end of the opening 31, and a part of the staff 33, located below the pivot 35, will bear against the point 30 of the strip 25. With the flagstaff 33 thus disposed, as seen in full lines in Figure 1, the lower end thereof is disposed directly in front of and in the path of travel of the point 40 of the slide 36 which is being held in a retracted position by the pull spring 46.

The mail carrier can swing the door 55 downwardly and forwardly to an open position, as seen in dotted lines in Figure 1, for depositing mail in the box and forremoving outgoing mail. As the door 55 is swung downwardly and forwardly to an open position, the link member 50 is pulled forwardly to exert a forward pull on. the strap members 48 which in turn displace the slide 36 forwardly within the casing 20 from the full line to the dotted line position of the slide, as seen in Figure 1. During this travel the slide point 40 engages the lower end of the staff 33 and causes the staff to rock clockwise about its pivot 35 past an upright position so that the staff 33 and flag 32 will then swing downwardly to their inoperative dotted line positions of Figure 1, with a part of the flagstaif then resting v against the inclined forward edge 28 of the strip 25. The forward end of the link member 50 is caused to move forwardly and then downwardly as the door 55 is swung to its open position. Thus, the link member 50 pivots during this movement about its fastening 51 and the strap members 48 also pivot about their fastening 49, as illustrated in full and dotted lines in Figure 1. As a result, the notch 58 after moving forwardly then moves forwardly and downwardly to engage over a portion 62 of the front wall 18, which is disposed directly beneath the opening 52 and constitutes a stationary latclrkeeper for the movable latch notch 58, and by means of which the parts arelatched in their forward positions with the door latched -in an open position. With the door thus latched in its open position, the mail carrier can conveniently apply mail to the mailbox 16 and grasp the outgoing mail and remove it from the spring clip 59. In extracting the outgoing mail from the spring clip 59, a sufficient upward pull is exerted on the mailbox door 55 to cause it to mo ve upwardiy SllfilClBlltlY so that the latch notch 58 is disengaged from the keeper 62. When this occurs the tensioned pull spring 46 returns the parts, except the flag 32 and stafi 33, to their full line positions of Figure 1, including moving the door 55 to its closed position. The flag 32 remains in its inoperative dotted line position to visually indicate to the mailbox owner that the mailbox should be checked for incoming mail.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A semiautomatic mailbox signal comprising an elongated casing adapted to be supported by a mailbox and extending along the outer side of a side wall thereof, a mailbox signal comprising a flag and flagstatf, said flagstaif having a lower portion extending downwardly into the casing, a pivot element pivotally connecting the lower portion of the staff to the casing, a first stop means contained within said casing for engaging a part of the flagstafi for supporting the flagstatf and flag in a raised, operative position, a second stop means disposed within said casing and engaging a part of the flagstaff for supporting the staff and flag in a lowered inoperative position, a slide mounted in said casing for sliding movement longitudinally thereof, linkage means connected to said slide and adapted to be connected to the downwardly and forwardly swinging door of the mailbox for exerting a forward pull on the slide when the mailbox door is swung downwardly to an open position, a part of said staff, disposed below the staff pivot, being disposed in the path of forward movement of a part of the slide when the staff is maintained by the first stop means in an operative position, whereby said staff part is engaged and rocked by said part of the slide for swinging the staff and flag to the inoperative position thereof, spring means connected to the slide and casing for urging the slide rearwardly to a retracted position and for exerting a rearward pull on said linkage means for returning the mailbox door to a closed' position, means swingably mounting said linkage means relative to the slide and pivotally mounting a part of the linkage means relative to the mailbox door, said part of the linkage means having a downwardly opening latch notch, and said casing having a stationary part forming a latch keeper, the latch notch being movable forwardly and then downwardly into engagement with the keeper as the mailbox door is swung to an open position for releasably latching the slide in a forward position.

2. A semiautomatic mailbox signal as in claim 1, and mail holding means adapted to be mounted on and supported by the inner side of the mailbox door and arranged to exert an upward pull on the door when mail is disengaged therefrom for disengaging the latch notch from the keeper.

3. A semiautomatic mailbox signal comprising an elon: gated casing adapted to be supported by a mailbox and extending along the outer side of a side wall thereof, a mailbox signal comprising a flag. and flagstaff, said fiagstafr having a lower portion extending downwardly into the casing, a pivot element pivotally connecting the lower portion of the staff to the casing, a first stop means contained within said casing for engaging a part of the fiagstafif for supporting the tlagstaif and flag in a raised, operative position, a second stop means disposed within said casing and engaging a part of the flagstatt for supporting the stafi and flag in a lowered inoperative position, a slide mounted in said casing for sliding movement longitudinally thereof, linkage means connected to said slide and adapted to be connected to the downwardly and forwardly swinging door of the mailbox for exerting a forward pull on the slide when the mailbox door is swung downwardly to an open position, a part of said staff, disposed below the stafi? pivot, being disposed in the path of forward movement of a part of the slide when the staff is maintained by the first stop means in an operative position, whereby said staff part is engaged and rocked by said part of the slide for swinging the staff and flag to the inoperative position thereof, spring means connected to the slide and casing for urging the slide rearwardly to a retracted position and for exerting a rearward pull on said linkage means for returning the mailbox door to a closed position, said linkage means including a part pivotally connected to the mailbox door and swingably disposed relative to the slide and having a downwardly opening latch notch, and said casing having a fixed portion forming a latch keeper, said latch. notch moving forwardly and then downwardly into engagement with the latch keeper as the mailbox door is swung to an open position for releasably latching the slide in a forward position and the door in an open position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,164,935 Fisher Dec. 21, 1915 1,238,761 Gummerson Sept. 4, 1917 2,698,712 Kreitlow Jan. 4, 1955 2,834,539 Carey May 13, 1958 

